04/30/2009

My First Post!

Okay, this is my first post, so be gentle. I know I need more photos and a few links here and there, and I'm frankly not sure if what follows is the sort of thing anyone is interested in reading. Nevertheless, here goes.

A Bed Time Story

Yesterday I spent five hours weeding one of my ornamental beds. It was hot. Winds were gusting up to 35 mph. And I was sweating in places I never knew I had sweat glands. I did manage to get a rhythm going with my scuffle hoe, thanks to the tune “Tonight the Bottle Let Me Down” that was stuck in my head.

A Little Background

The bed, one of several on my property, is roughly 2400 square feet, and includes a mixed bag of deciduous and evergreen trees and shrubs, perennials, and spring-flowering bulbs. I created it four years ago, and after clearing the land (of two collapsing barns, three ridiculously messy mulberry trees, several rotting railroad ties, and Bermuda grass), I created an undulating, raised-bed border of mortared limestone. The native soil was actually pretty good, but I wanted to fill the bed up to the level of the stone border, so I ordered a large dump truck full of top-quality topsoil. Or so I thought.

What actually arrived -- while I was out of town – can only be described as muck. Nasty, thick, black, swamp-like muck, the kind of stuff that sucks your shoes right off when you try to walk in it.

I called the contractor when I got home, and he knew right away I was pissed. He said the stuff I had actually ordered wasn’t available, and that his supplier had recommended the muck as a suitable substitute. Yeah, right. That’s like saying shoe leather is a substitute for steak.

But rather than have my guy remove the muck, I decided to amend the soil with all the organic matter I could muster – leaves, rotten hay and straw, grass clippings, and whatever else I could get my hands on. It delayed my planting plans a year, although I did go ahead and stick some trees and shrubs in to anchor the bed. I continued adding organic matter year after year, and now the soil is ideal for just about anything that grows. However, the muck was also infested with weeds, some of which I didn’t even recognize, and controlling them over the years has been a constant struggle, even though I’ve blanketed the bed with a good four inches of mulch every year.

Back to Business

Many of the weeds – such as henbit and chickweed – were relatively easy to pull. The poke, dandelions, and thistle required some real effort, as in digging deep to get every last bit of root. But the most notorious of the lot was the annual Polygonum persicaria, also known as smartweed or Ladysthumb, and there’s nothing ladylike about it. In fact, it’s a bitch. It reseeds and spreads rapidly, and it roots fairly deeply.

But at last, I was finished. I stared at the bed, pleased with my efforts, and then all of a sudden I wondered to myself: Can you really blame people for reaching for one of those hugely popular glyphosate-based herbicides when faced with such a task? Had I done so, I would have been finished in about half an hour and had plenty of time to kick back on the patio with a cup of coffee and the New York Times.

Like many of you, I’ve known for decades that synthetic chemicals, be they pesticides, fungicides, herbicides, or fertilizers, have no place in the garden. They poison the soil, the planet, and all life forms that call the soil and the planet home.

Why then do so many millions of gardeners use them? Well for one thing, they work, at least up to a point. In the short term they do indeed kill pests and diseases, destroy weeds, and make plants grow. They’re also attractively and conveniently packaged and available at stores of all kinds, from nurseries to box stores to grocery stores...even pharmacies!

But the biggest reason synthetic chemicals are so popular – and this should come as no surprise -- is that they’ve been advertised so aggressively that many such products are actually household names.

So how do we get more gardeners to stop using synthetic chemicals? Good question. And frankly, I’m not sure I have the answer. But this much I do know.

Chastising individuals who use synthetic chemicals serves no purpose. And those who take to the bully pulpit usually wind up preaching to the choir or come off sounding so smug that the target audience fails to hear – or simply chooses to ignore – the message. Demonizing companies that manufacture synthetic chemicals is only marginally effective, and may actually strengthen their resolve to counter the resistance by spending billions more on advertising.

The method I’ve used for 13 years on my show is simple and straightforward – don’t distinguish between synthetic and organic chemicals. (And by the way, just because they’re organic doesn’t mean they aren’t chemicals.) If someone asks how best to control aphids, don’t begin the conversation by saying, “Well, the one thing you don’t want to use is Sevin dust.” That confuses the issue. Instead, why not simply say, “Start with a strong blast of water from the hose, and if that doesn’t do the trick, try using insecticidal soap.” That solves the problem without even acknowledging that there is a synthetic alternative.

I’m not suggesting that by simply ignoring the existence of synthetic chemicals we’ll make them go away. I’m not that naïve. But in my 30 years of gardening organically, I haven’t witnessed a profound shift in thinking among gardeners regarding the use of synthetic versus organic chemicals. I’ve seen a change, to be sure, largely with respect to growing edibles rather than ornamentals, but progress has been slow.

Of course, progress is almost always slow. And what often makes it slow is that we make perfection the goal. We want everyone to realize the benefits of organic gardening, and we want them to do so now. But when we make perfection the goal, it has the potential to become the enemy of good. I’ve managed over the years to sway lots of folks to garden organically, but I haven’t convinced them all. Does that mean that my efforts have been in vain? Of course not!

I don’t know about you, but I gave up trying to save the world years ago. These days,I’m content to try and reach as many people as I can with my message, and hope that they will in turn reach as many people as they can, and so on. That way the message will spread – much like the Polygonum persicaria in my garden.

Last night, as I lay in bed sipping a glass of tawny port, I thought about another, much larger garden bed that needed weeding. But rather than dread the thought, I actually looked forward to it. I wondered what tune I’d have stuck in my head – something by Green Day, or maybe Pavarotti? Then I fell sound asleep with the New York Times on my chest.

Comments

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Hi Paul, welcome to the online world! My own thoughts on why gardeners use synthetic products... I think a lot of people view gardens as an accessory, not a hobby. Which is fair enough, I guess. Not everyone can go overboard in the same ways! Except it also means they want them to look nice all the time, like new shutters or a patio set, with little maintenance after installation. They want a product, not a process, and they're in the mindset of buying products instead of spending time in their garden. By which I mean, lots of people spray before they even see a problem or treat their lawn because all the neighbors do. If you view the garden as a living ecosystem, that you tend and spend time in, you're more in touch with what's going on and less likely to randomly spray. (Unless you're a tom cat. But that's another story.)

Hi Paul,
It's great to see you launch your own website and extend yourself to the gardening community. We love you and appreciate your entertaining humor and useful gardening information.
I hope to be a regular visitor to your blog and keep up to date on all things "Gardener Guy."

I'm posting about your new blog on my blog and will send my readers over to you!

Great to see you online! My wife and I have watched your show religiously for years! Your garden designs have inspired me to landscape my new 1/2 acre as much as I can with a new baby boy on the way (due this June). Keep it up and come to New Orleans for our Fall Garden Show in New Orleans' City Park this fall!

Welcome to the Web Paul! We've watched you for years in our home and always wondered why you didn't have a site. We will wonder no more!

I stopped using any synthetics years ago and use very little of any kind of fertilizer. I amend my veggie beds with compost each year and use grass clippings all over the place as either mulches or soil ammendments. I love having a mower with a bag! If the message spreads like the polygonum in my yard, you are talking fast, very fast!

I swear to God I didn't read your blog post before I wrote my blog post last night, but we're thinking along the same lines, and you've started to answer my question: how to wean people off their chemicals in a nice, non-confrontational way. I will incorporate your methods!

Paul,
I can't tell you how happy I am to find you now have a website and blog. As a fanatical watcher of your show for years, I can finally get more of The Gardener Guy! Great first post, and keep them coming!

Hi Paul, I am your cousin Toni from Warrenton, Missouri. (Carolyn's daughter). I am excited to see your new website. My husband and I have been fans of your show for years. We have 7-1/2 acres of land and share a 30 acre lake with 16 neighbors. Bob and I have stared a vineyard and make our own wine. I see you enjoy port. We make an orange chocolate port that is unbelieveable. We started a small orchard and should start getting a good fruit production next season. Last year we planted two long rows of blackberries, raspberries, boysenberries and blueberries. Every year we plant a 30x40 vegetable garden and I can whatever we don't eat or give to our 4 children and 4 grandchildren. So far our biggest dilema is landscaping around our house. We have almost nothing and are a little lost on what to do. Will have to watch more shows on that one! What organic solution do you have for tomato worms and worms in our corn. In the past we have sprayed them but prefer not to if possible. We have a home winemaking and vineyard management website I would like to share. www.mvws.org , Missouri Valley Wine Society. Please check it out. Great to see you on the web! Keep up the wonderful work that you do.

And a great first post it is! I think your right in how you approach it- suggest the least offensive first. People would be amazed at how non chemical ways work, if they'd just try them. I've had a great time with poke weed and one year some migrating birds came through loving the berries off my neighbors patch of them, impolitely dropping the little seeds all over my garden- that was a few years ago and I'm still fighting it in my perennial beds- funny how they like to come up right in the middle of a beautiful plant I've worked hard on! So how did you deal with poke weed?

Paul - welcome to the world o' bloggers. Good to have your hear. Just threw a link to your site onto my site. I love your writing style - irreverent comes to mind. We need more vinegar in the land of garden blogs.

I'm also happy to see some peeps I've been running with - Monica and Shirley - hanging out with you. Keep up the good work.

BTW: I think our blogging names might confuse a few folks, but they'll get over it and I'll be sure to give them directions to you if they stumble into my site by mistake.

People buy RoundUp because the company's that use it are still maintaining it 'biodegrades' and leaves the soil within seven days.

I had one of those spray on lawn guys stand in my driveway for a half an hour trying to convince me it was true. I was half amused, half homicidal. I finally made it clear to him that I was going to live with my lawn of clover, henbit and sedge, and that was that.

So thrilled to see you finally have a website and a blog Paul. I've been watching you for years since I moved here from Australia, over the years you have inspired me to garden organically (long before it was a trendy buzz term) and eventually become a Master Gardener. When I was looking for a career change I turned to horticulture some years ago and have never looked back.

I'm sad to hear you will not be making any new episodes but I am certain you will pop up with some new, exciting project that we will all love.

Much luck with your new endeavors and thank you for the years of inspiration, entertainment and gardening joy. I will be reading your site and blog with much interest.

So glad to see this blog! I started googling you because on last weeks HGTV episode, I saw your arm in some sort of borg/mechanical contraption. Thought I would scan around and see what had happened. Then, in that episode, you mentioned you would be moving. More curiosity! Now, I am thrilled to find the blog, but seriously disappointed to find that the show has been cancelled. What is wrong with HGTV anyway? Oh well, thankfully we have your blog and your humor available whenever we want..no more getting up before the birds on Sunday!:)
Best wishes and many thanks!